It may have taken place long ago, or more recently. Perhaps only last night triggered memories of what now has you in the fetal position lying in bed, trying every distraction and coping skill learned in lieu of whatever was your favorite poison to numb the pain. Even now, in a dry house you feel just as sick physically and in mentally anguish as then back then.
Even when you’ve given up and turned everything off, the silence even yet still screams at and within you. No two people experience flashbacks the same way, and the same person may experience the flashbacks in a different way as time evolves.
What encouragement you do remember are phrases like “just keep fighting. Take it one day at a time. This is only temporary. This is not happening in the present moment, you survived.Reach out and talk to someone”. But there are many times when there are no words, images and words too intrusive to get a thought or word in edgewise even in your own mind.
It’s 3 am power outage in the middle of a sunny summer Sunday afternoon.
Then the one thing that connects you to reality, the one thing you don’t need to speak a word to crawls up next to you and slowly the mental hurricane of shrapnel begins to abate. The storm begins to subside and perhaps tears of relief and gratitude fall onto the paws and fur of the one who loves you unconditionally, without any judgment, and simply reminds you of life here in this present moment in time. This companion may very well even be the best example of love, God, gentleness or forgiveness you’ve come across in years – or perhaps ever. Whatever the case may be, their relationship and the undeniable truth of the power of their companionship, and the testament of how many times they’ve pulled you out of the brink, off the mental, emotional or physical cliff is priceless.